An optically active fluorinated oxetane of interest of the present invention is a novel compound that can be an important pharmaceutical or agricultural intermediate. There has however been reported no methods for production of the optically active fluorinated oxetane. As shown in Scheme 1, it is assumed that the optically active fluorinated oxetane is a synthetic equivalent having on an asymmetric carbon atom thereof a trifluoromethyl group and a hydroxyl group and can be derived into a desired α,α-disubstituted optically active β,β,β-trifluoroethanol by selective conversion of formylmetyl and alkoxycarbonyl functional groups of different oxidation levels.

Suitable example of optically active fluorinated oxetane
Ra, Rb: desired substituent groups
Non-Patent Publications 1 to 3 report production methods of compounds structurally different from, but relevant to, the optically active fluorinated oxetane of interest of the present invention.